It was above 40 for a bit so I opened up a few windows if only for just a few minutes just to get some fresh air flowing in for a little bit. It was nice! I'm starting to think our spring may come at a normal time this year, but I can be deceived. It'd be nice for it to show up early tho, I wouldn't mind!

After reading that gas may go past $4.50/gal this summer, I'm thinkin hubs needs to walk ALOT more! He can shock me every day then. He may even find he likes it more than he thought too.

I'd love to get more walking in too. I have my doubts any more these days now, since the Sidney teacher mishap/killing. She is dead, they just need to find her. That's just 90 mi. away from here give or take. *shivers* I've heard stories on what happened to that poor lady, just makes my skin crawl. Some of it's been in the news, not sure if you'd seen it. But hubs is being a little overly protective with that, since we're in the heart of all this oil boom junk. I'll have to make sure to carry a knife with me from here on out from the sounds of it...

I hope we do hear back from harley soon. Man, here we go back to worrying again! It's getting close to calving season too so she needs to watch them cows closer for sure.

Last week flew by. I got to this site a couple of times and was ready to post - and then zap. One post completely gone. Another time the phone rang, someone came in to ask me for help - and so it goes.

We had a pretty weekend here. Cool, but actually pretty. Spring is coming. March arrives Thursday and I checked the Internet to see when daylight savings time begins and that's 3/11. Wow. So spring really is coming, at least to my neck of the woods. Your winters are so much longer.

I think it's wise for you to be cautious with your walking. I have read about the teacher. Such a sad story. I can't imagine how terrified she must have been. There are a lot of sick people in this world. Just be careful. I can understand why your husbande is being overly protective. He should be.

Had to check in & get a, heck I'm not even sure what I'm looking for now! Last night I found out an old childhood friend was murdered by her husband on Sunday. I'm really getting disgusted with the human race anymore. What are people thinking? Really, why aren't they thinking??!!!! From what I understand he beat her to death, ran from their house & tried to hide. Not the first time he got busted for domestic disturbance either. Sounds a lot like the ex, which makes me think a lot back. That very well could have been me, so many times! So scary.

Well crumbs, here I was going to go on & the little one is up already...so much for that!

Hi guys,Finally made it back home have been home then gone again then home for a few days then gone again.Home for awhile I think??????????The trips were all really great.The people in Brazil are just unbelievable they want to learn so much and try so hard its hard when they don't understand me and I can't understand them but some how we made it work lots of hand signs and yes and no's.We went to waterfalls and lots of pretty places had a cook out on top of a house with lots of the guys from the plant singing and playing there guitars.Little different when your the only women but I fit in really good with the guys not much of a girley girl.Lots of small bikes down there and everyone walks from place to place.Some really poor and some look to have more then enough,but everytime I was walking home late at night are early in the morning everyone smiled and said hi.Fell in love with one of the young guys he acted like one of my boys at our plant he found out I had a harley and so he rode his bike in to show me the next day.Will miss some of them alot.Have 2 new little goats named them Jack and Jill should have more before long.Had first new calf Friday big white bull calf.Moved 6 heifers to the other pasture today will keep them for cows.

It getting late better get lots to do in the morning.Glad to see you both are fine and still here.Will try and check back in when ever possible.

Harley m'love!! She's back! Holy crap we're sooooo glad to have been able to see a smiling post from YOU! Don't cha know how worried we get when we don't hear in, what FOREVER from you?! Hopefully you'll stick around for awhile this time before you go off again!

So besides Brazil where did ya go? Now before I lose track of it, how close were you to all of the tornadoes down there? I'm worried about beb too with all of that also. And the story of the little one they found in the field & then she passed away, that's sad. Whole family gone.

Anyhoos, I'm so glad to see you back tho harley! That made my Monday sooooo much better! And BTW, I'm nowhere close to being a girly girl either so we'd be pretty damn close I figure.... ;)

Hi jenjs,Sorry i make you guys worry just seem to have so much to do sometimes.Stevensville Texas and Logan Utah.

Pretty close to some of them but so far nothing close enough to hurt anything.Something tells me we are more alike then you even now.If I could stay outside all the time I would be a happy camper.

Have a new person to train this week got a call from Brazil they were having problems today so hopfully got them walked though there so they could get back up and running.Dogs say they need to go out so better get.Take care really nice to hear from you again.Maybe beb will be back in a few days.

Texas & Utah, for work then I assume? Utah is good for the mountains only. Otherwise, to me it's kind of a messed up place, in a lot more ways than one! Sure a lot of pretty places to see. If I never see Texas I don't think I'll be missin much...kinda like ND. NOt a lot to see here either, just a lot of ugly oil rigs, yuk.

Glad you didn't have any damage in those storms. Terrible, then to have some snow on top of some of it, what a pain in the tushy. That midsection is kind of a crappy place to be this time of year til what, mid summer-ish?

I have the dog outside right now, since it's decent, about 40 so he can handle it but his barking is driving me nuts. He's having a hissy fit & I'm about ready to throw a pan out the door at him if he doesn't shut up!! I'd love to be out in the yard getting it ready for spring, but I'm waaaaay off in doing that, dammit. I'd say a good 6 wks still, if not more. And that's just being able to prep the grass, nothing more. Planting any flowers or anything has to wait til June, bummer.

How many calves do you expect this yr? A lot? Sometimes I'd much rather be out on a farm than in a town, but not during winter! With how my fingers & toes get it'd be the death of me probably. Like right now, it'd pretty nice out, 40. But my hands are like icicles & I'm inside even. I really should wear gloves, but then I'd feel pretty damn dumb for doing that inside!! That's when the nice hot bath comes into play at the end of the day.

about 25 this spring then some more later in the fall.Have one more goat to have little ones be glad when they get here.The little one I call Jack got chocked on this feed had snot and bubbles coming out his nose started to go limp ran and got a small piece of hose and pushed down his throat till I hit the block he gagged alittle then shook his head went crying to his mom.I caught him again and wiped all the snot off his face then right back to eating he went.Never a dull minute here on the farm.

It was about 70 here today with lots of wind gust up to 60 miles.Went for a walk about 6:00 with the dogs thought it was going to blow us away.Cleaned out 6 of the flower beds this last weekend got some flowers ordered so will have lots to do when they get here.

Holy cow. I missed a week of posting and look who showed up! I'm smiling. Can you see me? It's a great big harley smile!

You have been busy - world traveler, new calves, goats, aide to a choking goat, walking dogs and nearly blown away by the winds. So glad you're back and posting.

Speaking of winds. I don't recall such long stretches of bad winds in ages. This has been the strangest winter weather. Warm, then cold, then windy/tornadoes/rain. The tornadoes actually hit south of me, about 15 miles from my sister - Harrisburg IL. She called to let me know they're OK. Thank goodness. We have rain predicted for later today/tomorrow and then again Fri/Sat/Sun. Ahhh, but spring is coming and the time changes this weekend. Back to DST.

My goodness. I still am thrilled over harley letting us know she's OK. Jenjs and I get worried sick over you, GF! Speaking of girlie girls - nope, not me either. I have on jeans, tennis shoes, T-shirt and overshirt today. Thank goodness I don't have to 'dress up' for work anymore. I only worry about 'dressing for success' for meetings. When my boss retired last year a lot of that stopped. Now I'll dress when I have to go to St Louis for meetings, but on a day-to-day basis - nope. Saves money, saves time, and the most important thing - I don't have to do it. All that make-up, primping with hair - not me. I want to look 'nice' but I don't want to 'work' at it.

And beb's back in to boot! The girls are back in town, all's right with the world now...

Yesterday I had so many pics sent to me, not sure if y'all had any but I had to chirp it up anyhows. It's all funny. Don't know if it'd happen today or not, but brooms will stand alone. Mine wouldn't, too much of an angle on it, but with the spring...man, lost my train of thought now...equinox! There it is, it'll stand alone. Same with an egg. Kinda funny. But like you said, change clocks comin up. I'll hate having it dark again when I take kiddo to school tho. It's been nice having it sunny. One thing about up here in summer I'm not fond of, sun doesn't go down until after 10. Makes for super long days. I feel like I can't sit still if the sun is still up. Y'all the same?

I had to have been a settler in a past life, all there is to it. Up at first crack of dawn or down with the sun. Doesn't matter if it's 4:30, AM or PM, works either way. Only thing I hate on summer.

I swear the wind followed me from Wyo. It's been more windy here I think since we moved here than ever. And now it's mild too, this year anyways. For that I'm not going to complain! I was sooo happy not to have 3+ ft of snow this year. I would love to see 70+ temps tho. I won't be able to see that for a good 2 more months. We're lucky to get 50s later this week. Open windows for sure....for a half hr maybe!

Next week is kiddo's spring break, well 2 extra days off anyways. Maybe if we're lucky we can go & do something fun. I'm getting cabin fever & want to go do stuff. Enough of this sittin around junk! Wish we weren't so far from oldest, I'd thought about a road trip, but it is quite a jaunt for just 4 days, 2 of em driving. No sense of that.

It's been warm here too. It's 70+ today, and the prediction is 80 by Wednesday. Friday it was windy and cold. Go figure!! I don't complain. Although it does make me sneeze and cough a lot. Not sick at all. Has to be alergies. I think the wind blows things in the air.

My grandson told me about the broom/egg standing. He was able to do it too. That same night my daughter went to work. Came home the next morning and said 'I'm exhausted. You wouldn't believe what happened last night.' She didn't know about all this other business. But what happened was: a lady who is in the 'early stages' of Alzheimers tore her apt. apart. The fire alarm went off. They had to shut down the elevator. She said you name it and it happened. So much so that they had to call in an additional helper for the residents. Thank God this is assisted living and not a nursing home. I told her everything's out of balance. Wonder how many babies were born.

I'm an early to bed, early to rise person too. When I don't have anywhere to go in the evening and if I'm not going outside to walk or something, I'll grab my jammies and that's it for me. Unlike you though I can relax in the evenings - if given half a chance. Therein lies the problem. Doesn't happen often.

My GS is on spring break this week from college. My GD doesn't have spring break. She'll get the Friday before Eater and the Monday after, that's it.

It would be nice if you and your son could get away. It would do you some good. Get out and about. You've had cabin fever.

The winds. We've had terrible winds here this winter. Never had them like that before.

Oh man, on Sat. it got up to 65 & today they call for 68....woo-hoo!!! I'll gladly take it!! I have windows open & the back sliding door, I'm in heaven. I told the girls yesterday if it's real nice today we'd go to the park. Well, they decided to fight all morning instead, so I said since they fought...no park. I know it's mean, but they have to learn that when they act up, at least with me, they don't get their way. The older one is bad with that. She gets her way aaaallllllll the time, acting bad or not & it is not good. We constantly have run-ins, her & I & I'm sure she whines about it with mom. I never hear about it one way or the other, but hey, you have to behave at my house. I don't deal well with little monsters. If you think you can tell ME what to do....guess what....there's the door!!!!

OOPS! Speaking of, I hear little voices, nap must be over for now, dammit!

Hi gang,will be away for alittle while so don't worry.Messed up the knee again went to Dr. on friday will have the knee replaced on tue. so will be in hospital for a few days.When i get home the bitch in me will most lickly come out so the ole man has his dog house ready so he can go hide.Will let you know how it went when I'm fit to talk to.Take care and wish me luck.

Oh man harley! Knee replacement....that really does bite! Dad had one done, wish he'd had the other done too, then maybe he'd have been a tad bit healthier. That's a bummer, but I hope it doesn't drag ya down too bad. At least you should be up & runnin before bike weather really gets here right??

Well, kiddo & I are off to Bismarck tomorrow. Be soooo glad to be out of here for a few days. Hubs is having a cow of course, poor me attitude. For the life of me I can't understand why he picked that up out of the blue. He was never like that! I told him to take off a few days from work & he just feels he can't. He just doesn't want to. I'm not going to be hostage because he doesn't want to have fun!! Phooey on that! Plus...down there it's supposed to be 78 on Fri, so I can't wait to get out!!!

I do think spring is springing up here already, which is a shocker to me. My sinuses are really going nuts the past week & when I wake up I'm totally plugged & dripping all day, sneezing. Already driving me crazy. But hey, if it's making my grass green quicker, I'm for it. Just no more below zero, that's all I ask!

This time change is just nutsy for the kids, I hate it. I wish they would leave it at regular time & no change in spring. It was meant for farming & the war in the beginning & now there's hardly any of that anymore. Leave it be. The ol' Bush had to go & mess with it even more & screw with it even more so, make the spring one even longer, which makes no sense really. But oh well, what do I know. I'm just rambling on now...

I'd better go now before I start to hear the little voices. (no, not the ones in my head either, ha!)

harley, too bad on the knee replacement. That really is a tough surgery. I only know that from my sister. I'd have some 'bitch' in me too. Heck, I have it anyway. I definitely wish you luck. Maybe you'll feel like posting here, venting. Might help.

Jenjs, you have a good time getting out of town for a few days. You deserve it. Men can't help acting like babies. If he can push buttons, he'll eat. If not, there are diners. So he'll be fine. If he chooses to work, it's his choice. You made your choice. You go girl!!

So there's a little one who wants her way all the time. Tough. You are right. It is your home, and you are the boss there. Apparently here parents know she's being treated extremely well. She'll eventually learn to shut up!

I'm leaving Sunday for my sister's and returning home sometime Wednesday. So I'll be off here for days too.

Kiddo & I got back home on Sat, was nice to get away for a few days. Ate waaaay too much, but what the heck, never do that kind of thing but once a year, if even that. Gained 3 lbs in the process however, which is a bit of a bummer, but thru the week I hope to get back to normal. There's nowhere to really go out to eat here, I mean at a decent place that isn't just burgers. So we went hog wild, literally!

The weather was just gorgeous there the entire time, got up to 81, unheard of in ND for March. I'm petrified for the flowers now! The grass now is in full bloom, I shoulda actually done that this weekend. If I had the gumption to do it I'd be ready for any rain or snow that'd help it green up. It's still pretty wet underneath tho. Next weekend I'll rake it up. Anyhoos, I was able to wear capris & my sandals, felt so good!

I have my smallest one here for the next 2 days, I'm glad for that! She's grown just in the past few weeks since I saw her last, little stinker. She wasn't wanting to go down for her morning nap of course, not used to the routine again. Tomorrow will be better tho. I'm just glad to see her!

Hope you have a good time at your sis' place. Is this the one by the lake? I'll bet that it's getting greener there too, lucky pup!

Harley, I hope ya can check in & tell us how the re-cooperating is going. It's not a fun road to be on, just be patient. But I'm guessing you aren't really the most patient type when it comes to wanting to get yourself better, are ya? You want it done here & now right?! It'll be there sooner than ya think, just keep up with your therapy, it helps....really.

I'm home. Got home last night and we had a terrific time. Yes, it's my sister's place, by the lake, which is where I will retire. That's the plan anyway. So much fun - talked, ate, laughed, shopped, gossiped. What fun.

Glad you & your youngest had a good time too. The 3 lbs will drop. You know it will. How did your hubby do while you were gone? I'm sure he survived just fine. There's something with these men. My bil would leave for work in the morning, and he couldn't be but 2 mins down the road and he'd call my sister for some nonsense. She said she's ready to pull her hair out. Was so glad the weather was good so that he could work. He's a laborer. He's a great guy though.

The little ones change constantly; don't they? It's amazing how quickly they do change. If you only have one for a few days that's a treat for you too.

Harley, hope you're doing well and find a few minutes just to say 'hi.'

Glad you enjoyed yourself beb. Always good to get away for a bit. Weird to get back home too! Were you as bad as me & gain 3#? I did lose 2 of it anyways this week, so I was glad to see that. I could not believe how swollen up my fingers even got when I'd put my rings on Sat. morning when I got up! Holy moly, must have been the sodium I'm not really used to eating much of.

As for how hubs did, well, he survived. I'm not sure how many calls I ended up getting! I didn't keep track, I never do when it comes to that boy. And over the dumbest stuff too. Really tho...great guys nonetheless, they can still be a major pain in the tushy. Major!

Oh, I was so happy to have had the little one, I wish she were here all the time. Oh well, I need to be glad to see her when I can. And one of the other girls was gone all week til today, my fave. I know I'm not supposed to have them, but heck, she's the reason I'm doing this anyways! So she can be my fave. She's hubby's too. So I'm glad to have been able to finally see her this week. I don't have the other brat today, sorry, but she is. I feel for her mom. Poor lady, when she has her baby, she will totally have her hands full. That kid is not going to like the baby getting all of the attention at all.

We are due for some rain this weekend, which kinda bums me out a bit. I was going to go hog wild with the yard & rake up a storm, maybe start up the mower...but we need one that can mulch up too tho, so I guess maybe next weekend. I'm so amazed at how warm it's been so far all winter really. Today tho we've had fog most of the morning & it's still cloudy, actually looks like San Fran outside, but nowhere as pretty. HA! Not even close...

Are weekends now about 2 hours? I swear. I think the weeks go fast, but the weekends go even faster. Oh, well . . .

Glad your hubby did fine. Didn't expect it to be w/o phone calls. I got such a kick out of my bil while I was at my sister's. He'd leave by 6:30 or so and at 6:35 her phone would ring. She'd go 'He's worse than when the kids were little!' It would be nonsense, and it's like he can't do a darn thing w/o her. Funny to me - but I got rid of mine years ago and will not return to being tied down. Bad experience and I will not repeat it. He's great, and my brother's great. My bosses are wonderful. That's enough. Men make wonderful friends, but I won't go beyond that. My life is fine for me anyway.

We have rain moving in tomorrow night. We lucked out this weekend. It was gorgeous. I got back to water walking too. Felt wonderful! Oh, and I lost 3/4#. You lost 2#. Terrific.

Still playing 'catch up' here at work. It's never-ending. But I have a job and that's important.

Weekends have always been like that, ever since I can remember. They always will be!

Last night I actually went out for a bit with hubs...he called me to meet him & his bosses to come out for awhile. Cripes, he was lucky I hadn't gotten into my pj's yet! Hey, if it's after 8 pm, very good chance of it. Anyways, I never was able to get to sleep, AT ALL, last night. I swear it was a full moon from how I was tossing & turning. I'll be lucky to be awake still by 7! Here it's about 2:30ish & I'm surprised I'm not crashed on the couch. Then again, if I did, who would be up for the kids? Yeah. But anyways, it was nice to go out for a bit. Not nice to stay up all night long, for no reason. That I just don't get.

Today it's dreary & rainy off & on, windy, just perfect for a great nap, which I'd do in a heartbeat mind you! Feels like snow actually. It's more of a mist out, been like that all day, really strange. I do hope it's nice this weekend. I do so want to get the lawn started. Plus I have to get the storage cleaned out by Sunday, there's just a file cabinet left but that booger weighs close to 150# I swear. Have to figure out that one.

Heck I won't be losing anything the next couple days here with it being dreary like this & no sleep. I made loaded potato soup for dinner in the crock for tonight, super yummy & I mixed up kringla, that's how I spell it anyways. It has like a crust & it's topped with a souffle-type thing, there's nothing sweet about it but the little bit of frosting I put over the top of it when it cools. It has almond extract in it, I'm a sucker for the almond flavor. It's a very rich bar-type dessert thing, buttery, crumbly, just super yummy. I haven't made it in years & I've been thinking of it for a long time now. Just seemed like a good thing to do today. I'm not sure if it's a swedish/german/hungarian treat or whatever but it was in a cookbook my mom had gotten from my grama, she was in the Eastern Star club/sisterhood whatever you'd call it.

Oh man, I'm really rambling on here! I really have to get some sleep! 7:00 just will not come soon enough for me. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere...